Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Working as a freelancer has several advantages. Hence, many people prefer to work as a freelancer than an employee in a firm. Moreover, freelancing is recognized as a profession in its own right. Furthermore, a number of people find that their skills attain more recognition if they work as a freelance consultant than an employee for a firm. Some of the benefits of being a freelancer are listed below.

* You have the freedom to choose your own hours of work. As a freelancer, you decide what your working hours are. You can choose to take a half day off anytime when you need to attend to family matters, etc. If you think that you are over stressed at work and need a vacation, you can plan for one anytime you wish.

* You are your own boss. Being a freelancer allows you to set your own priorities. If you work in an office, you need to comply with certain standards of discipline set by your employer, managers or colleagues. However, as a freelancer, you set your own standards of discipline. You have the independence to decide what you want to do with your time and how you want to execute your work.

* You choose how much you want earn. If you are working for a company, you receive the same amount of salary every month no matter how hard you work. Whereas, as a freelancer, you determine how many jobs you want to do at one time. Hence, the more hours of work you put in each day, the more money you earn. Being a freelancer gives you the flexibility to determine how much you wish to earn.

* You choose how you want your office to look like. You can use one of your rooms at home as your office and decorate it the way you want it. You can pick your own furniture and interior furnishings to create a wonderful surrounding which will make you comfortable while you work.

* You have an improved quality of life. As you have the flexibility to choose when, where and how you want to work, you have more control over your life. You can exercise an ideal distribution of your time between work and leisure, hence achieving a better quality of life.

* You can have the chance of working on a variety of different projects. This could help you to improve your skills in different areas.

Choosing the kind of projects to work on depends very much on the skills you have, for example, writing, art work, graphics, accounting, training skills, administrative skills, etc. However, some basic computer skills are certainly necessary for freelance work, such as being internet savvy, able to type and able send emails.

One of the ways to find freelance jobs is to go to freelance job boards available in the internet. Freelance work employers advertise the available jobs for freelance workers in these job boards. You can browse through the jobs posted, select the one you want to do and bid for it. One advantage of using these freelance job boards to find freelance jobs is that it saves you time and effort in doing marketing. Another way of attracting new clients is to create a website and place it in the internet. You can advertise your experience and services through this website. Most potential clients will request to see some references or samples of your work before they assess whether you are suitable for the job. Hence, you need to prepare your portfolio as well as a list of some excellent references when you start looking for jobs.

Due to the advantages of working as a freelancer, many people prefer freelancing than working as an employee. Being a freelancer, you will enjoy lots of freedom and flexibility in your work. There are some ways of finding freelance jobs via the internet. Depending on the skills you have, you need to select projects relevant to your skills